Caroline Halde - PhD Candidate

I am currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program in Plant Science at the University of Manitoba. My project is on soil microbiology, crop residue decomposition and soil nutrient dynamics in tilled and no-till systems under organic management. My supervisor is Dr. Martin Entz.

I hold a Bachelor of Applied Science in Agronomy (Soil and Environmental Sciences) from Université Laval (QC), and a Master of Science in Agriculture from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College and Dalhousie University (NS). My M.Sc. work was on soil compaction and plant diversity in pastures, and I was supervised by Dr. Ralph C. Martin. I would like to thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada for their funding.

I have a great interest in organic farming. I grew up on an organic dairy farm in Quebec. On our 200 hectares, we organically grow corn, soybean, wheat and forages. Moreover, I have worked as an organic inspector for the certification organisation Québec Vrai in 2006. I really have a passion for research in organic agriculture. My areas of interest in research are soil sciences, forages and pastures, field cropping systems, agronomy and dairy farming. During my time as a student at Laval University, I worked in a soil physics laboratory, on gas diffusion in soil, and in an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada laboratory, on an organic tomato crop project.

I enjoy travelling. Graduate studies are giving me the opportunities to learn how agriculture is practiced in different regions of Canada and around the world. My trips to Latin America, South America, Europe and Asia definitely taught me that farmers all around the world share a common passion for the land, natural resources and livelihood, and I truly enjoy learning from them. I am also involved in a long-term international project jointly coordinated by the Agricultural Institute of Canada and the Canadian Society of Agronomy aiming to help the development of organic agriculture in Nepal.

I like challenges.

Caroline Halde, M.Sc., agr.
Ph.D. Student, University of Manitoba
umhalde@cc.umanitoba.ca


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Posted March 2010